Monday, December 14, 2009

The Climate Can Wait Until After Dinner

You're the PM. You're in Copenhagen for the climate change conference.

You can either deliver a speech to the conference, or you can delegate the job to someone else and go off and have a feed with someone famous.

Should you:
  1. Give the speech and take the opportunity to show the world that New Zealand does care about the issue and isn't a fossil when it comes to taking meaningful steps to address climate change?
  2. Have a feed?
To be fair, I am being somewhat disingenuous (okay then, I'm being entirely disingenuous) when I attack John Key for leaving Nick Smith to give NZ's speech while Key has dinner with the Danish Royal Family. Because apparently none of the other world leaders are talking either.

But Key appears to be intent on showing New Zealand is simply a follower, not a leader. We are dragging our heels when it comes to climate change, and the world is waking up to the fact that our clean green image is just that - an image, devoid of substance.

If Key had spoken at the conference it might have sent a message that he gives a damn.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

I welcome comments, but I ask commenters to follow a few simple rules:

1. I delete anonymous comments. Please use either a name or moniker. I am not asking anyone to reveal their secret identity. Just don't call yourself "Anonymous".
2. I am thick-skinned, thanks to years of serving my reptilian overlords, but I won't tolerate abusive comments. Feel free to criticise the substance of what I have written, provided your criticism is intelligent and constructive. Don't abuse me or other commenters.
3. Please don't defame people.